Alongside Faust, Carmen is the most popular work in the French repertoire. The novella by Prosper Merime from which the opera is drawn is about a gypsy girl who proclaims so that all may hear her appetite for freedom and love without constraints, thereby shocking the critics when it first appeared.
Set in Seville, Spain, Don Jose is seduced by the beautiful gypsy Carmen - a seductress who chooses her lovers as she pleases. Unable to resist her powerful charm, Jose abandons his military career and childhood sweetheart for Carmen only to be betrayed with murderous consequences.